2"* S. X. Oct. 6. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



263 



of January. Both the speech of that day and the 

 petition are extant *, and they both have points of 

 sympathy with Ferrex and Porrex. The speech, 

 as might be expected from a Puritan like Nor- 

 ton t, is a laboured argument in favour of Lady 

 Katharine Grey ; the validity of the limitations 

 already existing, and the incapacity of inheritance 

 of aliens born are stoutly contended for. Its closing 

 sentence — 



" If we shall for an3' affection take away the right from 

 those that have the right, let us remember this saying of 

 the Holy Ghost, « Propter injurias et injustitias transfer- 

 tur regnum a Gente in Gentem,' " % 



reminds us of the last lines of the tragedy : — 



" God must in fine restore 

 This noble crown unto the lawful heir : 

 For right will always live, and rise at length, 

 But wrong can never take deep root to last." 



So the words of the petition describing the dis- 

 orders of a disputed succession are strikingly simi- 

 lar to the language of the play. These considera- 

 tions are not certainly of great weight. Persons 

 who propose to themselves a narration of the 

 same circumstances will probably use language 

 not very diverse ; yet, remembering that the first 

 edition names Norton and Sackville as authors, and 

 that the second or authorised edition confirms this 

 statement, we can scarcely dismiss Norton's claim 

 simply because he failed in his translations of the 

 Psalms, — a task generally thought as difficult as 

 any to which a poet can address himself. 



Leonard H. Courtney. 



Gray's Inn. 



P.S. Since writing the above I have discovered 

 that Strype § says the debate of the 16th of 

 January, 1562-3, was opened by the Mayor of 

 Windsor (Gallys), but he names Norton as one of 

 the true men who spoke. Supposing Strype to be 

 correct, the fact of Norton's interest in the sub- 

 ject which was the motive of Ferrex and Porrex 

 remains, and the speech in the State Paper Office, 

 commencing as it does with the words " In so 

 great a matter as we have in hand . . .," may be 

 that of some speaker after the first, and in fact 

 still be Norton's own. As, however, my position is 

 that the falsehood of the contemporary statements 

 of Norton's share in the authorship is not proven, 

 the speech need not be pressed. 



* The petition is in Cobbett's Parliamentary History. 

 There are three copies in the State Paper Office of the 

 speech (Lemon's Cal. p. 217. 411.; Dom. ^/»2. vol. xxvii., 

 Nos. 33, 34., vol. Ixxvii., No. 72.) The first seems the 

 earliest copy ; the second is in the form of a book, and 

 appears to have been written after the death of Elizabeth ; 

 the third is endorsed by the writer : " A motion of Suc- 

 cession in the Parliament a" xiiim" Eliz. Regse.," and is 

 accordingly placed in the year 1571, but this is clearly a 

 mistake. 



t There is an excellent life of Norton in Cooper's Athen. 

 Cantab. 



X Ecclesiasticus x. 8. § Annals, i. 294. 



ALLUSIONS TO WILLIAM III. AND THE DUTCH 



IN DRYDEN'S translation of VIRGIL. 



A passage in the sixth book of Dryden's trans- 

 lation of Virgil, in which the Endish poet has 

 imported a hostile allusion to William III., was 

 noticed in "N. & Q.," 2»'> S. vii. 168. Another 

 instance is affisrded by the following contrast be- 

 tween the rivals for the royal rank among the 

 bees in Georg. iv, 137., which evidently refers to 

 James and William : — 



" With ease distinguished is the regal race : 

 One monarch wears an honest open face ; 

 Shaped to his size, and godlike to behold. 

 His ro3'al body shines with specks of gold, 

 And ruddy scales; for empire he designed. 

 Is better born, and of a nobler kind. 

 The other looks like nature in disgrace, 

 Gaunt are his sides, and sullen is his face ; 

 And like their grisly prince appears his gloomy race." 



The following passage occurs in the third 

 Georgic : — 



" Talis Hyperboreo septem subjecta trioni 

 Gens efirena viriim Rhipaeo tunditur Euro." 



iii. 381-2. 



These verses are thus rendered by Dryden : — 



" Such are the cold Rhipsean race, and such 

 The savage Scythian, and unwarlike Dutch." 



Martyn remarks that " Dryden has introduced 

 the Dutch in this place, and bestowed the epithet 

 unwarlike upon them, which is not in the least 

 countenanced either by history or by the words 

 of his author." 



In the former passage, likewise — 

 " Ille horridus alter 

 Desidi^, latamque trahens inglorius alvum," 



(iv. 03.) 

 is altered into 



" Gaunt are his sides, and sullen is his face," 



in order to produce a resemblance to King Wil- 

 liam. L. 



MACBETH. 



Some time ago we ventured to send some ob- 

 servations to " N. & Q." on the charges brought 

 against this monarch, and which, by the magic 

 power of Shakspeare, have been, we greatly fear, 

 so firmly fixed in the mind of most people as to be 

 almost indelible. 



Yet Macbeth was an excellent monarch — so 

 far as we can trace — was no murderer in the pro- 

 per sense of the word, had as good a title to the 

 throne as Duncan, who inherited as heir of his 

 mother's brother — an admitted usurper — and who 

 moreover never had any " Lady Macbeth " to 

 prompt him, but took to his bed Gruoch — at least 

 so says Winton — the widow of the deceased 

 monarch. 



In a matter so truly Shaksperian, we were hope- 

 ful some more learned person would have been 



